Not everyone in NATO has realized that there is a war going on nearby

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas believes that low defense spending by NATO countries indicates a lack of understanding of reality on the part of some states.

She said this in a discussion at an expert forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit, in which a correspondent of Yevropeiska Pravda is participating.

Kaja Kallas reminded us that NATO's approach to defense is significantly different from what it was in the late 1990s. In particular, many NATO states are now not meeting the Alliance's defense spending standards, despite the fact that NATO recognizes that the war has been going on since 2014.

"In 1998, all NATO members spent 2% of GDP on defense. Why? Because everyone felt that the threat was real, the Cold War had just ended. And now only 11 countries meet this standard," the Estonian prime minister explained.

It is worth noting that the decision to urgently increase defense spending to 2% was made at the Wales Summit in 2014.

"Perhaps not everyone realizes that there is a real war going on next door?" Kallas asked a rhetorical question.

She also explained that because of this, the armies of NATO countries began to lag far behind Russia and China, which were simultaneously increasing defense spending many times over.

Author - Olena Madiak, 11/07/2023